The Captive Boy - Before The Story

The Captive Boy - Author's Note Before The Story

By Johnny Kape ©2009-2022

This story has two parts and this is the first part. It was written and published in 2009, but the main character and some of the story lines were formed when I was about 10, and had been developed for more than 20 years. It was my first attempt to write a longer story. I got some great feedback from readers and I did appreciate all of them.

However, at that time, my skills in story telling were not mature. All these years, every time I reread this story I would always see a lot of absurdity and imperfection in it. Suffering from my perfectionism, I kept thinking about revising it. 13 years after the story was first published, I finally took action and revised it, under the encouragement of some story writers. I hope you enjoy the revised version.

Special thanks to Greyson B., the author of Cadence and A Ghost Finds A Body. He helped me proofread the revised version and gave me many very good and professional suggestions. I really learned a lot from him. Thank you, Greyson.

Finally, I'd like to dedicate this revised story in memory of Matthew Templar (1948-2020), who volunteered to proofread and edit this story when I first published it in 2009. Besides this story, he also proofread my other stories, and became an important mentor in my life. Thank you, Matthew. Without you, I wouldn't be able to write so many stories and wouldn't be able to walk through those dark and depressed years in my life. I hope you rest peacefully in God's embrace.